The Ploughman As Labourer for The Lord

Drawing of Medieval ploughmen.

       The history of the plow would be a very interesting topic. One of the most instructive departments in the World's Exposition at Paris in 1867 was a collection of the plows of all nations and all times. There you might see the rude implements of Sierra Leone and South Africa, or you might trace the history of the plow from the ancient circle of Egypt to the latest improved plow of England or America. These did not seem to attract as much attention from the crowned heads as the improved rifles and Armstrong guns; yet of how much greater importance is the plow than the mightiest weapon of war that was ever invented! Considering how much the welfare and independence of mankind are dependent on this implement, it is astonishing to notice that the great improvement of the iron plow belongs to America, and dates back only about fifty years from the time of this author.

       It is generally believed that as Nimrod was the father of hunting, and thus invented bows and arrows, and as Jubal was the father of music, and thus invented the pipe and harp, so Noah was the father of farming, and invented better implements for cultivating the soil than were known before his time. He is called in the Bible a ''husbandman,'' or, literally, ''a man of the ground.'' He, doubtless, contrived the plow that was used in Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs, and Egypt furnished the pattern for Boaz.

       From the representations on the tombs at Thebes we may know exactly its construction. Take a slender piece of unhewn timber, about ten or twelve feet long; to this lash, with a piece of leather, a rope, or green withe, a crosspiece sharpened at one end, about five feet in length, this forming an acute angle with the first. The sharpened end constituted the part that tore up the soil; the other end, inclining toward the driver, was the handle. The long part to which the cross-piece was tied was the beam, which extended to the yoke of the cattle. Sometimes a branch of a tree was used, one part of which served as a handle, The long part to which the cross-piece was tied was the beam, which the cross-piece was tied the beam which extended to the yoke of the cattle. Sometimes a branch of a tree was used, one part of which served as a handle, and continuing with a crook, served also for a beam; the other, branching down, formed the plowshare. Perhaps Boaz made some improvement on this, for after his age (1 Samuel 13:20) it is noticed that the sharpened end was pointed and plated with a thin piece of iron, which served for what we now call the plowshare.

       This rude affair, then, was the plow of the Bethlehemite farmer. It was, doubtless, the best he knew of. And such have been the only kind used in Egypt and Palestine from that day to the present. You often see in those countries a farmer going to his work in the morning, or coming home, at night with such a plow on his shoulder. He never leaves it in the field, lest it may be stolen. Of course, with such a rude implement they cannot turn up such broad furrows as we, but only scratch a little on the surface.

       The thin share of the plow of Boaz, in shape like an arrow, so much resembled the short sword used by ancient warriors, that it could with little trouble be converted into that destructive weapon. Hence when Joel with prophetic voice called the nations to battle from the peaceful pursuits of the field, he said, ""Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears.'' And when Isaiah speaks of the universal and lasting peace that is to be brought about by the reign of Christ in the latter days, he reverses the same beautiful image: ''And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks."

       The construction of this plow suggested the proverb used by Christ, (Luke 9:62) "No man having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of heaven.'' Why not say ''hands?" Had the plow been made like ours, with two handles, it would have been hands; but only one hand was needed, for there was only one handle. As the soil was loose and stony and the light plow merely skimmed over the surface, it was the more necessary for the plowman to keep his eye and his hand constantly at his business, to insure a proper depth and a regular furrow. Hence the force of the allusion to Christian life. The calling of the Christian requires vigilance, singleness of aim, and decision, in soul-culture. The careless plowman gazing about the field is a fit emblem of too many who in the different departments of Christian work profess to be engaged in the Lord's husbandry. A thousand years before Christ, Hesiod, a Greek poet, used language very similar to that of our Lord, though, of course, with a different application. "Let the plowman'' said he, ''attend to his charge and look before him, not turn aside to look on his associates, but make straight furrows, and have his mind attentive on his work.''

       The plow was usually drawn by oxen, though sometimes by a camel and an ass or a heifer. The use of the heifer for plowing is at least as ancient as the time of Samson. (Judges 14:18.) Elijah found Elisha in the field plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. This was not a team of twelve yoke - it would hardly require so many to drag one little Syrian plow - but twelve separate teams, plowing one after the other. Frequently the traveler in Palestine saw six and seven yoke of oxen plowing in the same field at one time. This was partly for mutual protection, but more especially that a sufficient area of land may be plowed in one day. With their slender plows it was necessary to go over the same ground from four to six times before sowing. Often three or four plows follow each other in the same furrow, each going deeper in the soil. Then, too, it was desirable for proper moisture to sow each day the amount of land plowed during that day. (Isaiah 28:24.) This may account for the number of teams in Elisha's field. According to the estimate of a day's plowing in I Sam. 14:14, even twelve yoke could prepare only for sowing in one day six acres.

       The time for plowing was dependent on the early rain, which usually begins about the first of November. As there was no rain for six months previous to that time the ground became dry and baked. The first showers of autumn are anxiously looked for; and as soon as the soil drinks in the rain the farmer is out with his plow. Our prudent farmer, doubtless, allowed no time to be wasted when the proper period came. With their frail implements they must wait until the ground is sufficiently saturated and moistened, and even then they cannot plow more than half an acre per day. Thus the plowing frequently drags along for months, and not infrequently you would find it going on when the bleak winds and rain of midwinter would seem sufficient to repel even the thrifty farmer. There were some slothful fellows in the days of Solomon, and he had his eye on them. He says, "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold, or winter, as in the margin. Therefore shall he beg in harvest and have nothing."

       Two prophets speak of ''fallow ground.'' Every farmer knows that this refers to ground that has been left for a time without cultivation. According to the divine command the ground was to rest every seventh and every fiftieth year. In all Palestine no plow was to stir the soil, and no seed was to be sown during those periods. For other reasons, too, fields were often left without being sown for a longer or shorter time. During these seasons the ground became baked, cattle formed many a pathway over it, or it was soon overrun with thorns and noxious weeds. This fallow ground must have especial care before the seed is sown. The work in such a field was familiar to the prophet, who says, ''Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.''

       Plowing suggests many close analogies in spiritual husbandry. The one just alluded to is full of meaning. The natural heart left to follow its own inclinations is incapable of producing good fruit. Without culture, it is like a common left open to every form of evil. Such soil produces only noxious fruits; the good seed of the kingdom cannot ripen on it. As in the natural, so in the spiritual, the first process is to break up the ground. One object of plowing is to invert the soil, that it may be exposed to light and air; so in heart culture we must see the wickedness of the heart; our inner selves must be revealed to ourselves. Hence the prophet says, ''Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord." And this searching must be done in the light of the divine Spirit. The Gospel becomes a plow, and when rightly used it makes deep furrows, and lays open the inner wickedness.

       Plowing breaks up and mellows hard ground; so repentance for sin is necessary to bring the spirit in a proper feeling and relation to God. Hence in spiritual husbandry God makes much of a "broken and contrite heart;" such a heart he will not despise. He is nigh unto such a one; dwells with it. So in the soil of the heart there are evil principles and matted roots of error to be eradicated. As some weeds send their roots very deep, and thus require deep plowing, so the fibers of sin go very deep, and often bear fruit years after we thought they had been completely subdued. Hence there can be no danger of being too thorough.

       The careless farmer plows merely upon the surface; so, too, many in spiritual life are satisfied with mere surface work. Hence the fruit so often apparent - a stinted soul and a worldly spirit. The old saints were accustomed to plow very deep. David says, "Against thee only have I sinned, and done this wickedness in thy sight'' and in this connection he speaks of broken bones: "My bones also hast thou broken.'' He was utterly cast down in view of his sin. A prophet with trembling lips says, ''Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips.'' Such deep plowing mellows the heart, and when the good seed is sown there, good fruit is the result. Arthur G. Thomas

So the plowman turns over the soil and God then  reconnects  with people...